After 15th January, additional cash lanes at toll plazas to be withdrawn
Posted on: 10/Jan/2020 9:40:01 AM
The news that has come out now is after 15th of January 2020 additional cash lanes at the toll plazas would be withdrawn and this despite of the fact that just around 60% of transactions at toll plazas taking place through FASTag cards. At the 48 toll plazas in the state of TN, every day over 6 lakh transactions take place on an average.
Only 30 days were given for additional cash lanes and hence these additional cash lanes would be withdrawn. This was as per some sources belonging to NHAI.
It was revealed by an official source that all toll plazas would continue to have one cash lane on both the extremes even after 15th January. Many vehicles have been getting held up at the electronic toll collection lanes in TN and this has been due to lack of balance in around 15% to 20% FASTag cards.
A minimum balance of Rs 200 was needed for every card and it is revealed that if the minimum balance amount was not present then the card would be blacklisted and vehicle would not be able to cross the next toll. The fact is this is something that is common to all such financial transactions and not only FASTags.
It is worthy to note that when the vehicle is at a distance of 10 m, the reader in the toll plaza would read a FASTag and later the details of the vehicle get passed to a traffic line controller and from traffic line controller to the bank server. After processing of the information is completed, then it comes back to the reader that conveys the order to the boom barrier. The time taken for all these activities is under 10 seconds.
According to a system expert, sometimes due to low internet speed, the card gets read but the transaction does not take place and the motorist has to pay cash. Point is the consumers want different system for tourist car operators. A resident belonging to Pattabiram who travels frequently by tourist cars explained about the issues and the need to have a different system for tourist car operators.
